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At E3, I had the chance to check out Transistor, the newest game from Supergiant, the makers of Bastion. Transistor is coming out on the PS4, and it was my first hands-on with the new console.

For starters, Transistorlooks AMAZING. The art is gorgeous, and cut-scenes look like paintings. The colors are a lush combination of warms and cools that help establish the science fiction/futuristic feel of the action RPG, and the tableau is beautiful.

The next positive I noticed is the voice acting. The game is narrated by a spirit (Logan Cunningham) in contact with Red, the protagonist. The guy’s voice is mellow and quiet, evoking the feel of New York City late at night, in a lounge or jazz café. The narrator is also fallible, making mistakes and providing a soft bit of humor and poignancy to the story.

As for the gameplay and combat, I was a little worried while watching others play the game. There is a set up system that looked a little complicated, and I was nervous about embarrassing myself in front of the devs. It turns out I had nothing to worry about, as the game smoothly teaches you how to play, and the combat is actually much simpler than it appears at first. That’s not to say it’s too simple; it relies on stats, tactics, and pre-planning, so hardcore RPG fans can still have a ball.

As for the PS4 controller, I found the control to be superb, with the controller feeling comfortable and familiar in my hands. I didn’t really have a chance to test if the triggers are better, but I can say that I like the controller overall.

The ambiance of this game is what I loved the most, with the combat coming in second. I can’t wait to see more of Transistor and to learn more about Red!

It’s been since 2007 since we have seen a Paper Mario game, now we finally see it come back with a different twist and style. All new on the Nintendo 3DS. The games are renowned for their distinctive visual style, which consists of two-dimensional paper cutout characters moving about in three-dimensional papercraft worlds. This particular game gives you the diorama feel. It’s the type of game I’ve been waiting to see on the 3DS for quite sometime.

First the unboxing! (see video above). One thing I noticed and mentioned in the video is the lack of instructions in the manual. Coming from a generation were manuals consisted of 30 pages or so and lots of pretty pictures, it’s weird to see a manual consisting of… well… no pages. The game looks as standard as can be, nothing to fancy about it. One thing that did catch me be surprise from GameStop is the extra swag I got. A giant Mario sticker!

The story starts with a special Sticker Comet that comes from the sky to fill the wishes of those who see it during the Sticker Fest. Well as we all know, someone out there wants to harness the power of the Sticker. When Boswer touches the comet or star, it spreads 6 Royal Stickers through out the land with the help of Kersti, your guide. Of course along with this, Princess Peach is no where to be found.

The controls are as simple as they get outside of battler. The A button is for jumping, B to use the hammer which allows you to interact with the environment, example being some flowers that can be flipped around and trees that can be hit to reveal new paths. The X button allows you to access your Album. The Album is where all your stickers will go, more on that later. Finally the Y button allows you to enter a state called “Paperization” that allows Mario to place stickers anywhere on the visible overworld to activate certain events.

Time for the meat of the game, stickers. Stickers are the bread and butter of the game. Unlike the previous titles, the player increases maximum HP and other stats through collection of stickers instead of gaining experience awarded from winning battles, so no more XP. Stickers are vastly available around the game world, along with that there is shops that sell stickers. Stickers come in many different varieties, everything from “Jump” stickers, “Hammer” Sticker, Fire and Ice Flower Stickers and Mushroom Stickers. There are also different versions of these stickers called Shiny and Flashy, think of collectible cards that had a shiny or flashy version of it. Best stickers are Thing Stickers, basically real-world objects, such as baseball bats and scissors, that can be turned into special types of stickers, which are often needed to solve puzzles in the overworld. For example, a Fan Thing Sticker can be placed in strategic areas in the environment and, when activated, creates wind that moves or destroys obstacles.

The battle system (see video above) does resemble the previous Paper Mario games, turn-based battles. These battle start when Mario comes into contact with an enemy. As we know the battle and attack is determined by the amount and variety of stickers that you are holding. For example, using the Jump sticker will cause Mario to jump on the head of an enemy. Carefully timing the A button will cause a bonus hit. Some stickers allow for the bonus to continue for quite sometime. Thing Stickers are used to inflict more damage on enemies, and certain types of Thing Stickers are required to defeat boss characters. However, each sticker is removed from play after one use. So use them wisely.

Overall the game is a VERY welcomed edition to the 3DS family. The game is very fun and brings a very fresh and new gameplay to the Paper Mario family. The game does keep you on your toes and gets you thinking when solving a puzzle. The humor on the game might give a chuckle or two. The game is very enjoyable and I see great replay value with it.

Capcom has a released an almost-five-minute video showing off the improved visuals in the upcoming HD re-release of Okami.

As a big fan of the Playstation 2 version, I am definitely excited to play Okami again on my PS3, but I’m also laughing a little at everyone getting so hype over how “exciting” the “HD visuals” are. Okami has ALWAYS been a gorgeous game and the “new” graphics look exactly the same to me as the classic! I also think it’s interesting that Capcom chose a dim and dark cave adventure to show off the updated appearance….

But this is just a YouTube video, maybe my untrained eye will be more impressed (than I already am with the original PS2 art) when I see it on my TV screen.

Regardless, I’ll still be checking Okami HD out when it releases through the Playstation Network later this year, and racking up some trophies!

As seen in the new Street Fighter x Tekken Comic Con gameplay trailer, Steve Fox, Poison and Yoshimitsu join the roster in one of the most anticipated cross-overs since MVC3.

Street Fighter x Tekken is the first of two crossover fighting games, this one being developed by Capcom and the next, Tekken x Street Fighter will be developed by Namco. Street Fighter x Tekken will have gameplay more closely related to Street Fighter with projectile moves like Hadoukan and a 2D environment.

Other characters shown in the video:

Street Fighter team

Ryu

Ken

Chun Li

Dhalsim

Guile

Sagat

Abel

Cammy

Tekken team

Nina

Kazuya

King

Bob

Julia

Hwoarang

Marduk

Street Fighter x Tekken will be released for PS3, Xbox 360 and PS Vita in March of 2012.

Within hours of the Microsoft Press Conference. Gigantic news already leaked out from their vault of E3 surprises. Twitter began popping up with images from the Xbox website with post and screenshots of Master Chief and Cortanna. The image and the sources in question claimed it to be the next iteration of the Halo franchise, Halo 4. Also in the shot, we see reveals of other games like Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Star Wars Kinect, and Ryse.

Within minutes, the Microsoft site was changed, and the only pictures of it were floating around twitter. Microsoft’s big reveal was spoiled hours before their press conference. Regardless, there are going to be plenty of people excited for this new addition to the Halo franchise. But is it official?